Carter Hart isn’t putting any extra pressure on himself to jump from the American Hockey League to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The 20-year-old goalie prospect is comfortable with the path the Flyers have placed him on, which includes starting his first professional season with Lehigh Valley of the AHL.
While the Flyers have started an NHL-high five goalies this season, Hart is patiently developing in the AHL.
“They know that I’m transitioning from a different game to the pro level,” Hart said. “It’s something that every pro goaltender has to go through when they make the jump up. I just have to keep working hard and come to the rink ready to work and things will come. It’s part of the growing pains and part of the process that I have to embrace.”
Hart, who twice won Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Year while with Everett in the Western Hockey League, had a 1.87 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in parts of four NHL preseason games, but was sent to the AHL on Sept. 30.
He is 7-4-2 with a 3.36 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage in 14 AHL games, but the numbers have been trending the right way recently. He allowed at least three goals five times in his first six games, but in his past eight he’s allowed three goals or fewer seven times. Hart made 33 saves in a 5-2 victory against Toronto on Sunday.
After dominating junior hockey the previous three seasons — he was Western Hockey League goalie of the year three straight seasons and led Canada to the championship game at each of the past two World Junior Championships, winning the tournament in 2018 — he’s learning pro hockey is different.
“Junior is definitely slower than the pro game,” he said. “The AHL is a lot faster. … I’m sure there’s areas that I have to work on, but right now, in the middle of the season, it’s important to find that consistency and that’s what I’m working to find on and off the ice. I just have to stick to my strengths and trust my game and keep working on my game and I know things will come. It’s a process, and if you just keep working on it things will get easier and the timing will get better and I’m already starting to feel that.
“The play has slowed down from the beginning and things are getting easier. Things are starting to trend in the right direction and I’m feeling to feel a lot more comfortable right now.”
Whether that comfort level helps him reach Philadelphia faster remains in question.
The Flyers are going through transition. Ron Hextall, the general manager, was fired Nov. 26. He had espoused a patient approach with prospects, including Hart. A new general manager has not been named.
“Is there a time during this year that you can bring him up and look at him? I don’t know, maybe,” Flyers president Paul Holmgren said Tuesday. “To put him in, we’re [24] games in to the season. I don’t know if we’re at that point yet.”
Goaltending has been a major issue for the Flyers. They’ve allowed 3.52 goals per game this season, fourth-most in the NHL, despite allowing 31.6 shots per game, No. 16 in the League.
Brian Elliott, who started the season as the No. 1 goalie, is week to week because of a lower-body injury sustained against the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 15. Michal Neuvirth, expected to push Elliott for playing time, has played one game because of a lower-body injury sustained during training camp. Calvin Pickard, second on the Flyers with eight starts, was claimed on waivers by the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
Alex Lyon (one game) and Anthony Stolarz (three games), who started the season with Hart in Lehigh Valley, have had turns in Philadelphia.
The goaltending question is one that has surrounded the Flyers in some form since 1986-87, when Hextall, a rookie, helped lead the Flyers to the 1987 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.
Fans hope Hart, a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft (No. 48), can be the answer. Hart, though, is doing his best to block out extraneous noise, including, he said, deleting his Twitter account before the start of training camp.
“I definitely hear it, but it’s not really any pressure that they’re putting on me,” he said. “The only pressure would be the pressure that I put on myself. I just have to worry about my game. … I’m really looking forward to the chance to hopefully play for the Flyers soon.”
Guillaume Lepage of LNH.com contributed to this story
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